


A Clean Slate

by deliriyum



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Other, Reader-Insert, pure indulgence this time
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-14
Updated: 2018-09-14
Packaged: 2019-07-12 03:07:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15986318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deliriyum/pseuds/deliriyum
Summary: It certainly wasn't glamorous and you definitely never imagined yourself here. Sometimes you just had to put on your Adulting Pants and make the best of it.  Right now, making the best of it meant accepting a position as a janitor at a local mall.  Making the best of it meant trying to get along with a new coworker, getting adjusted to living in a new city, trying to recover from the last few years of your life, and befriending monsters for the first time.But hey, maybe some of that wouldn't be so bad after all.





	A Clean Slate

**Author's Note:**

> Fic #2 of 3. The first is [Nice To Meet You](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15911793/chapters/37090830). Check it out if you get the chance!
> 
> This one is going to be pure indulgence, honestly. I only have a vague idea of where it will go. It's definitely going to be more slice-of-life than NTMY or the third (still unnamed) fic. I plan to use this fic as a way to wind down from writing the other two, which are more plot intensive, so I have no idea what the update schedule for it will be like. Still! I hope you enjoy it. :)

“- and that just about covers up the entirety of your duties. I know it all seems like quite a bit for one person, but once you get into a routine it’s a lot easier than it seems. And there always be at least one other person on the same shift with you.” 

The older man, whose bushy, curlicued mustache had distracted you for the first 15 minutes of the training exposition, pulled out the clipboard he’d had pinned between his arm and torso. 

“That’s… ah, yeah. That one….” His lips tugged down into a deep frown for just a moment. “He’s been here for almost a year now so he should be able to help ya out if you get stuck on anything or need help. His shift starts in about 10 minutes, same as what your future shifts will be. Sound good?”

No, it didn’t sound good at all. A quick 15 minute explanation of duties and some photocopies of the mall’s floor plan didn’t seem nearly enough to prepare you. Your ever-useful $120k unfinished social work degree didn’t prepare you for these very important janitorial duties, either.

You supposed the job was straightforward enough: clean the bathrooms every three hours with touch-ups every hour between, keep the floors and carpets clear of debris, empty every trash can twice a shift, do every single miscellaneous cleaning you can do in between to keep the mall in tip-top shape…. The tasks were simple enough, but it was actually a massive amount to accomplish between just 2 people in a whole mall. Not that it was a particularly big mall, but two department stores, a food court, and 6 regular-sized stores was still quite a large area to cover.

And Joseph’s assurance that every chemical was labeled for its purpose, that a book of the material safety data sheets was located in every storage closet, and that none of the cleaning materials were caustic still didn’t ease your worries. Because you knew, even in the best of circumstances, you would still find a way to mess things up or at least embarrass yourself. That’s how it always went, right? Even something as simple as being a janitor was bound to end badly for you. 

“Uh… yeah, sounds good,” you agreed, despite the pressure of anxious energy building in your gut. Joseph seemed to take no notice and smiled at you from underneath his mustache.

“Alrighty. Looks like it’s about time for me to roll out myself, then.” He moved to step away from you, paused, then turned back around. “You’ll be okay, kid. This job don’t pay much, but it’s pretty low-stress once you get used to things. Get in that routine, right? And don’t worry about your shift mate, either. He won’t trouble you none, I promise. Guy knows to watch himself here.” 

You hadn’t been worried about whoever shared a shift with you before, but somehow you were now. Joseph seemed to not like the guy too much for whatever reason. He flashed another awkward smile, then turned in the direction of the custodial office, which was through the nondescript set of double metal doors located next to a pair of bathroom entrances.

As he disappeared through the doorway, you took a stock of your location. Food court, smack dab in the middle of the mall. The nearest utility closet was through the same door Joseph had gone through, but not quite as far down that hallway as the custodial office. You tried to recall what Joseph said he’d already gotten done during his night shift duties, but your memory fell short around the time he said he’d buffered the main stretch of the building and you noticed the way his mustache seemed to bounce with each hard consonant.

...trying to remember seemed a useless endeavor at this point. You’d just have to take a look around. The bathrooms seemed as a good place to start your check as any, so you decided to poke your head into this pair first. Maybe, if you were lucky, you’d run into your coworker on his way to the office to check in since you were sticking close. If you could just have the time to ask a few more questions…

 

Even that seemed a bit too much to ask. You were halfway through your shift and you still hadn’t seen a single glimpse of your coworker. 

Sure, you’d certainly found evidence that he was _somewhere_ in the mall. Utility closet doors you were positive you’d shut were suddenly open the next time you came around, a previously empty mop bucket now showing signs of having been filled and dumped recently… He was around here somewhere, but you always seemed to just miss him. Or he was avoiding you. Maybe he was shy? Maybe that’s what Joseph had meant when he said he wouldn’t bother you? Who knows. 

It seemed he was still getting his share of the work done, so if he didn’t want to interact with you for whatever reason, that was his business. Even if you were a bit disappointed that you were stuck without anyone to answer any of your questions. Luckily, you’d had plenty of time to realize that it was just your anxiety getting the better of you, and so far the job was as simple and generally stress-free as Joseph said it would be, even if the amount of work to be done meant you felt like you constantly had to rush.

Either way, it was now already lunch time. Time was going a lot faster than you thought it would and your feet were already hurting a lot more than you thought they would, too. So, after an afternoon check of the bathrooms in the smaller of the two department stores, you were eager to grab your wallet from the office, grab a bite to eat at the food court, and rest your feet for the glorious 45 minute lunch break you were afforded.

Your options were humble, but just about everything sounded delicious right now: a chain restaurant selling subs, a pizza place, a cart boasting gourmet pretzels. However, it was the simple, undecorated hot dog stand that caught your eye. The sign on the front was a garish yellow with “hot dogs” written in what looked like red marker. A small post-it was haphazardly slapped on off to the side and said, “$1 for 2 special.”

Cheap. Cheap is good. The hot dogs sounded like a victory for your stomach _and_ your wallet.

Only, as you approached, you realized no one was manning the cart. Condiments, napkins, and straws were lined up neatly on the outside ledge and hot dogs were cooking on the rollers, but no one was there. You looked around, eyes passing over mall-goers and the employees of the other food stalls, but no one was paying attention to you or the unattended hot dogs. A frown pulled at your lips. 

“I guess I’ll just – holy shit.” 

When you turned back around, you nearly jumped out of your skin. The previously empty cart now had a pair of large, dark eyes – eye sockets?! - and a wide smile where there hadn’t been before. It was a skeleton? Kind of? Definitely not a human skeleton, but similar enough in a lot of generic ways that they were recognizable as one. A monster, then? 

“hey. you want some ‘dogs?”

“How in the HELL did you- Shit. You really scared me.” 

And now you felt a little awful, because as your heart calmed, your first thought was he must think you were scared of the fact that he was a monster. You were definitely surprised, as this mall was located in an area of the city pretty far from the neighborhoods most monsters were settled in. In fact, this area was known to be fairly unkind to them. You attempted an awkward smile at him and hoped you came across well enough. He seemed to either not notice you r initial notice, not care, or was really good at maintaining his customer service act. 

“yep. got a scary good deal on ‘dogs goin’ on. get ‘em while they’re hot.”

“Okay. Uh, I guess I’ll get the two for $1 special? Do you have nacho cheese, by chance?”

“sure do,” he said, facial expression unchanged from the first moment you looked at him. At least you think it was unchanged? There were some micro expressions going on there, maybe, but you couldn’t really place what they were. “but sorry, that special offer is over now. price is a dollar per ‘dog.” 

“Oh. Well. That’s still good? I’ll have two.”

You could definitely make out the most minute widening of his grin now. He nodded his head down at your name tag. “know what? i’ll give you the coworker special. $5 for two.”

“...what.” That didn’t make any sense. The price increased? 

He continued to smile. After a few confused moments, your brain caught up with the situation a tiny bit. 

“Coworker special? I don’t… uh.” For the first time, you took notice of what you could see of his clothing: a blue hoodie and a t-shirt proclaiming “BEST BUNS IN TOWN,” that hung loosely on him, revealing a dark green polo beneath that.

You glanced down at your own dark green polo. “Oh. OH!”

When you looked back up, he already had two hot dogs with nacho cheese ready to go and was holding them out to you. How the hell did he move so fast? You weren’t quite sure what to make of this exchange, but you immediately opened your wallet to fish out a $5 bill. The random price changes were odd, but he’d already prepared them for you. Couldn’t back out now. You placed the bill on the counter between the two of you and slid it forward, then grabbed the two hot dogs out of his hands.

For a few moments, you stood there awkwardly, holding the two buns aloft. 

“So… two jobs? At the same time?” You were just trying to make conversation, but despite having been looking for him all morning you suddenly felt very nervous now that you’d found him.

“yep.”

Was that even a thing? Not that you cared, really. The guy could do what he wanted. Still, you were trying to imagine the logistics of how he was managing a hot dog cart and doing all of his janitorial duties at the same time. And now there was something strained and almost annoyed with his expression – or at least the vibe he was giving off – so you averted your eyes and dropped the subject. 

“Cool. Okay, uh, well, I’m gonna just go eat these now and… okay.” Maybe you were imagining it, but you felt like his eyes were on you the entire time you shuffled away from the food court and back toward the custodial office. You sat down, got comfortable, and trying not to think about the exchange with your coworker (and, shit, you forgot to actually introduce yourself to him), took a bite out of one of the hot dogs.

Then you immediately spat it back out.

Whatever the hell that was it was definitely not a hot dog. It looked and smelled like one somehow, but it was made of a strange, fibrous plant material that broke apart and scattered across your tongue, sticking to it no matter how much you spit and wiped at it with a napkin. 

Damn it. That was the last of your cash, too.

**Author's Note:**

> ([Tumblr](http://boomable.tumblr.com))


End file.
